Jesus Is an Anarchist

James Redford

3. Jesus
Does Not Respect the Person of Men

According to the
Bible, every person is equally subject to the commands of God, and one
does not become exempt from God's law simply because one has managed to
receive some sort of title of nobility. We are instructed to treat
everyone by the same law.

Yet this automatically
rules out the possibility that governments could ever be legitimate, as
they can only exist do to a privilege of monopoly on the ultimate control
over the law which they enforce while excluding all competitors. As well,
they collect taxes, which they call "theft" and "extortion" if anyone else
engages in the same behavior against them or others.

As it is recorded in
the Gospels, it seems that the people that knew of Jesus in His day were
aware that He did not regard the person of men (i.e., titles of nobility,
etc.):

Matthew 22:16: And
they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we
know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care
about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men." (See also Mark
12:14.)

Yet this would have
been merely conforming to people's expectation that Jesus would have been
following the Old Testament commands not to regard the person of men (Lev
19:15; Deu. 1:17; 16:19; Job 32:21; 34:19; Prov. 28:21.). But that this is
indeed the case was confirmed in the apostles' writings:

Galatians 2:6: But
from those who seemed to be something – whatever they were, it makes no
difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man – for those who
seemed to be something added nothing to me.

And:

James 2:8,9: If you
really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love
your neighbor as yourself," you do well; but if you show partiality, you
commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (See also 1
Peter 1:16.)

Yet consider what
James's above admonition means as it concerns Jesus's ultimate ethical
command of the Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12; Luke 6:31). If we as Christians
were to take Jesus's command seriously and apply it to everyone without
partiality, then it would necessarily require that we demand the abolition
of all governments wherever they may exist, as they can only exist by a
continuous violation of the Golden Rule (see above).